Area baseball playoffs to begin Wednesday

RYAN S. CLARK

Published 12:00 am, Monday, May 3, 2010

Photo: Beaumont

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Bridge City pitcher Forrest Zoch throws against West Orange-Stark in 21-3A baseball action on April 6. Bridge City will play Coldspring in a three-game matchup starting Thursday. Valentino Mauricio/The Enterprise less

Bridge City pitcher Forrest Zoch throws against West Orange-Stark in 21-3A baseball action on April 6. Bridge City will play Coldspring in a three-game matchup starting Thursday. Valentino Mauricio/The ... more

Photo: Beaumont

Area baseball playoffs to begin Wednesday

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The high school baseball playoffs start with Wednesday's game between Vidor and Crosby.

Some teams, like District 18-3A champs Jasper and 21-3A counterpart Bridge City, have a first-round byes while others start their run to Austin this week.

Here's a look at the playoff series starting with District 21-5A's West Brook.

CLASS 5A

West Brook (8-7, 4th, 21-5A) vs. Pearland (1st, 22-5A)

Best of Three

Game 1: Thursday at Pearland, 7 p.m. Game 2: Friday at West Brook, 4 p.m. Game 3: If necessary, Saturday at Clear Lake, 3 p.m.

West Brook marks its one-year absence from the playoffs by taking on Pearland, which advanced to the state tournament last season. Pearland dominated District 22-5A thanks to players such as Drew Dekerlegand, who signed with The Citadel. Pearland also features pitcher Brock Hartson, who threw a no-hitter earlier in the year. West Brook coach Jacob Walton said the goal is to surprise a few people when his team faces Pearland.

CLASS 4A

Nederland (13-1, 1st, 20-4A) vs. Goose Creek-Memorial

Nederland is aiming for another deep playoff run, but it had to do a little waiting first. The final playoff spot in District 19-4A wasn't decided until late Monday night as Goose Creek Memorial used a 4-2 victory over Mont Belvieu Barbers Hill in a play-in game. Nederland's first-round playoff information will be in Wednesday's paper.

Port Neches-Groves (11-3, 2nd, 20-4A) vs. Galena Park (3rd, 19-4A)

Best of Three. All games are at Baytown Sterling.

Game 1: Wednesday, 7 p.m. Game 2: Friday, 4 p.m. Game 3: If necessary, 30 minutes after Game 2

PN-G returns seven starters from last year's team that advanced to the regional quarterfinal round where it lost 1-0 to Magnolia. PN-G coach Jay Stone joked that the key to beating Galena Park was scoring more runs. But he was serious about his team having to play solid defense to advance to the second round of the playoffs. Stone said Galena Park's strengths was its ability to put the ball in play.

Vidor (10-4, 3rd, 20-4A) vs. Crosby (2nd, 19-4A)

One game: Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. at Lamar

Vidor coach Kyle Green said he expects to have his hands full with Crosby junior pitcher Jeremy Gabryszwski. Green said the tall right-hander has a fastball that has been clocked at 86 miles per hour along with having a 12-6 curveball that could cause problems. Don't feel too bad for Green as he's set to throw Lamar signee and lefty Trae Hester in the one-game series. Green said he felt confident with Hester, who's had eight days rest before he takes the mound at Lamar, where he will be playing next season.

Game 1: Thursday, 6:30 p.m. at Lamar. Game 2: Friday, 6 p.m., at Kingwood Park. Game 3: If necessary, Saturday, noon at LC-M.

Coaches stress that tournament games get teams ready for the playoffs and LC-M's Steve Griffith was right when it came to the New Caney Tournament. There, Kingwood Park edged out LC-M 5-4 before both teams started district play. Griffith said LC-M, which only returned three starters from last year, lost the game because it made some mistakes. But Griffith said those mistakes should not be repeated when the teams play again starting Thursday.

Bridge City coach Chad Landry hasn't decided who he's throwing in Game 1 and that's something that suits him perfectly fine. Landry, who is in his second year at Bridge City, said he feels fine with choosing Lafayette signee Matt Hicks, or junior lefty Forrest Zoch, who had a 0.82 ERA in district this year, to open the series. Landry said that he and his team are only worried about what they can control. Should Hicks and Zoch be on their game, Bridge City could control this series.

WO-S returns to the playoffs for the first time since 2005 and it looks to make a deep run this year behind the pitching of pitcher junior Zane Anderson. WO-S coach Jessie Riojas said that he trusts Anderson in a one-game series because of what he's done this season by going 7-3. Anderson's three losses came to Jasper, Orangefield and Bridge City by a combined five runs.